Aunt Marge's Big Mistake

At breakfast the next morning, Harry is hardly surprised when nobody wishes him a Happy Birthday. Everyone is watching the new kitchen TV, which had been installed because Dudley was complaining about the long walk from the living room TV to the fridge. The TV newscaster is reporting on an escaped prisoner, Sirius Black, saying he is armed and dangerous; Aunt Petunia immediately goes to the window to see if he might be outside. Uncle Vernon prepares to leave for the train station to collect Aunt Marge, Vernon's sister and Harry's least favorite relative. Marge's past visits have left Harry with extremely unpleasant memories, and he is unhappy that she is staying for a whole week. Uncle Vernon warns Harry to keep a civil tongue and that there will not be any funny stuff (presumably meaning magic). He reminds Harry that Marge believes he attends St. Brutus's Secure Center for Incurably Criminal Boys. As Uncle Vernon is leaving, Harry corners him with a counter proposal: if he behaves during Marge's visit, Uncle Vernon will sign his Hogsmeade permission slip. Uncle Vernon, reminded about how easy it would be for Harry to slip up and say something about his magical connections, and how little he has to lose by doing so, angrily agrees, and slams off to the station as Harry, resigned to acting like a Muggle for the week, sadly puts away all his magical stuff and sends Hedwig and Errol to Ron for the week.

The visit begins poorly, with Marge giving Dudley a big hug and a kiss and £20, while treating Harry as a porter. Throughout the week, Marge repeatedly insults Harry, at one point commenting about how problems in the parents usually appear in the offspring. When her wine glass suddenly shatters, she passes it off as her having such strong hands, not suspecting that it could have been Harry who caused it to break – Harry is angry enough to have done it, but is unsure whether he did. On her last day, Aunt Marge goes into a diatribe about Harry's "good-for-nothing parents". Harry's anger causes her to start swelling, eventually inflating like a balloon and bobbing around on the ceiling. Harry knows he is probably in trouble for twice violating the Decree for the Reasonable Restriction of Under-Age Sorcery, an action that could result in having his wand snapped in two and/or being expelled from Hogwarts. Harry hurriedly packs his belongings, and dragging his trunk behind him, runs into the night.

It would have seemed that no one could be more unpleasant to Harry than Uncle Vernon, but Aunt Marge is equally hateful. Her derogatory comment, "If there is something wrong with the bitch, there'll be something wrong with the pup," is seemingly an aspersion at Harry by targeting his mother's character, but it could also be a thinly veiled insult against Aunt Petunia, Vernon's sister, who Marge may consider inferior and tainted by her blood relationship to Harry and his parents. Her animosity excludes Dudley, despite his blood connection to Harry and Petunia. Marge dotes on her young nephew.

Harry's interactions, both with Vernon and Marge, show how he has matured and has become more assertive. There has been a slight power shift in the household. Harry, fully aware that this has happened, now bargains with Vernon to attain what he wants. With Marge, Harry is able to restrain himself, barely, for almost the full week, only losing his temper when she insults his parents. It is noteworthy that we see Vernon attempting to defuse the situation, knowing Harry is being pushed to his limits, and fearing what might happen should those limits be exceeded. This illustrates their relationship's changing dynamic; even one year earlier, Vernon would never have worried about Harry in a similar situation, firmly believing in his own ascendancy.

While Harry has become more sophisticated and adept at manipulating and interacting with people, Uncle Vernon has grown fearful, perhaps realizing that as his nephew nears legal age, he could possibly retaliate against the family with magic. Knowing that Vernon worries that Aunt Marge, who already considers Harry inferior, might learn he is a wizard, Harry exploits the situation to barter with his uncle, offering good behavior and agreeing to act like a Muggle in exchange for having his Hogsmeade permission slip signed. However, when Harry is unable to contain his anger with the obnoxious Marge, he loses this opportunity. Although his uncontrolled reaction has lost him his chance to visit Hogsmeade, it also shows how powerful Harry's magical abilities have become. Without realizing it, Harry has demonstrated "wandless magic" several times, a nearly impossible feat for most wizards. While Harry is unsure if he shattered Aunt Marge's wine glass, it is certain that both his inflating her, and the cupboard unlocking when he retrieves his trunk, are magic, and as Harry's wand is locked in the cupboard, Harry is performing magic without its assistance.

Despite the changed relationship between Harry and Uncle Vernon, Harry is still a child, and his reactions are childish. Having gotten into trouble in Vernon's house, and presuming he violated wizard law, Harry's impulse is to run away. He has no clear idea where to go, or what he will do when he gets there; he simply decides that he must become a fugitive, believing he can gather his money from Gringotts and go into hiding. For one as famous as Harry, this is clearly wishful thinking at its worst; Harry could never remain hidden. It also never occurs to him that there are many, including Dumbledore, McGonagall, and the Weasleys, who would come to his defence. This actually is an interesting contrast to Harry's behaviour in his first year, where, knowing that he was headed into possibly mortal danger, Harry pressed ahead anyway. It likely would prove interesting to examine this event, and Harry's earlier excursion Through the Trap Door, to see how Harry's character is motivated in each case.

On a lesser note, it is interesting to see the planning that must have gone into this chapter. At the end of the chapter, Harry reclaims his trunk from under the stairs and runs. Somehow, the author must prearrange that all of Harry's Hogwarts stuff will be in that trunk, and that Hedwig will be gone; Harry will not have time to dash madly about the house to collect his text books, assignments, and owl on the way out the door. The permission slip, in itself, might not be enough to force Harry to send Hedwig away and pack up his magical materials, but combine that with Marge, strike the deal that we see in this chapter, and it can all be arranged in a way that seems organic rather than contrived. This is especially important as it seems, at the end of this chapter, that Harry may feel he can never return to the Dursley home.

Intermediate warning: Details follow which you may not wish to read at your current level.

It will be revealed that Sirius Black is actually a fugitive wizard considered dangerous to both wizards and Muggles. It therefore becomes necessary to warn Muggles about him. Though the Wizarding world is kept secret and separate from Muggles, there are key Muggle contacts who work with wizard officials. Just how Muggles are alerted is shown in Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince.

Aunt Petunia nervously peering out the window after the TV newscast may be for a very specific reason, rather than a general panicked reaction to a fugitive on the loose. Petunia is far more knowledgeable about the Wizarding world than Harry, or we, ever imagined. Dumbledore had likely briefed her regarding the circumstances surrounding her sister Lily's death; the letter that had been left with Harry in the first chapter of the first book likely went into some detail. Perhaps recognizing Sirius Black's name and knowing that Black is connected to Harry and also to the Potters' murders, she now fears for Vernon and Dudley's safety, as well as her own, though she is probably less concerned about Harry's wellbeing. We have no guide as to how she feels about Aunt Marge.